- Yaakov Astor
Massacre At
Tiananmen
Square
It has been 25 years since the infamous massacre at Tiananmen Square.
In Western strongholds, especially Hong Kong, throngs of people came
together to mark the date. The only place where no mention of it was
made was China—where the atrocity occurred!
What happened there in the spring of 1989? How did a small student
protest turn into a national crisis and almost bring down an empire? Read
the blow-by-blow account that China fears more than anything else.
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Introcuction:
T
his past June 4 the world
solemnly marked the 25th
anniversary of the Tiananmen
Square massacre, when the Chinese
government deployed 200,000 troops
armed with assault rifles and tanks
against unarmed civilians to a break
up a seven-week long pro-democracy
demonstration in Tiananmen Square,
situated in the heart of China’s capital,
Beijing.
25 years later: The ruling party prohibits public discussion and
the event is banned from textbooks and Chinese websites. In
Even today, the exact death toll Tiananmen Square it’s a very routine day.
from the crackdown against the
protestors remains unknown. According to Tiananmen Square, 1989: The Declassified
History, published by George Washington University’s National Security Archive, about
500 to 2,600 people were left dead. China’s official death toll is 246.
Memorial events were held the world over. Yet at the site of the killings there was no
trace of remembrance. The Chinese government has imposed a collective amnesia on
its citizens, who are still not allowed to debate or even publicly discuss what happened
on June 4, 1989. Chinese schools and media make no mention of the deadly crackdown,
even as the foreign news media give it global attention. Images and information about
the event that get posted to the internet are quickly scrubbed.
Chinese citizens who dare commemorate “6/4” (as it is sometimes referred to, since
it took place on June 4) are silenced with ruthless efficiency. In advance of the anniversary, authorities typically detain dozens of activists. Some are held in places unknown.
Foreign journalists are called in and warned. Officials mobilize tens of thousands of
informants to look for suspicious activity.
Some relatives of the victims are allowed to pay their respects at cemeteries—but
only with police escorts. Others do so at home under surveillance, expressing frustration at the restrictions placed on their remembrances.
This year, the repressive tactics ahead of the Tiananmen anniversary began earlier
People hold candles to commemorate the events of 1989 in China's
Tiananmen Square during a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on June 4, 2014.
and were more extensive that in recent memory, a sign that the Communist Party
views the historical event as an ongoing threat.
In Washington, the White House said in a statement, “Twenty-five years later, the
United States continues to honor the memories of those who gave their lives in and
around Tiananmen Square and throughout China, and we call on Chinese authorities to
account for those killed, detained or missing in connection with the events surrounding June 4, 1989.”
Interestingly enough, there was one city on Chinese soil where the massacre was
remembered: semi-autonomous Hong Kong, where tens of thousands gathered at a
central park. The organizers of the vigil in Hong Kong said the crowd numbered over
180,000, while the police estimated about half that. The turnout was the largest since
1989, according to the organizers.
The Tank Man
Left: A June 10, 1989 file photo shows People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops standing guard
with tanks in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing. Right: 25 years later, Chinese paramilitary
policemen marching through the same area to clear tourists for a flag-lowering ceremony.
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A
wiry, slope-shouldered young man in a
white shirt and black pants holds two
plastic grocery bags. Bearing down on
him in the middle of a wide avenue adjacent
to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square is a column
of tanks. They appear to be an unstoppable
force bent on running him over.
Yet, he holds his ground and refuses to
move.
Remarkably, the lead tank stops only
inches from him. Looking tiny next to the
hulking tanks, the man swings one of his
shopping bags up and over in a “shoo”
gesture.
After a brief delay, the lead tank lumbers
to the right, intending to go around him.
Incredibly, the man darts to the right, cutting
it off. The tank stops, as if taking a moment
to think. Then the metal behemoth turns in
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